What are we but the stories we tell each other. What are we but the stories we repeat in our heads like a sacred mantra. If we become what we think, as Gautama Buddha would say, then we become our stories.
On September 6, 2023, The StoryYellers marked their 50th session and celebrated 200 stories on the storytelling platform. I’d first heard about this yet novel-sounding venture in 2016 when my then-teacher Prashanta Manandhar, founder of The StoryYellers, invited me to become one of the speakers at the first session. I ended up being the very first speaker in the very first session.
One day before the event, I was still revising my ‘story document.’ My friend Ritika, who was coming to the event the next day, was shell-shocked. “That’s not you. You always have to finish everything two days before the deadline,” she said. Perhaps I was learning that stories are always in the making; they can never be perfect or complete. I did manage to yell my story the following evening, thanks to the amazing team that helped me throughout. [You can view it here and read about it here.]
Fast forward to the 50th session; I was visiting the event after years. I might have been one of those rare ones who not only had the chance to yell my story on their stage but also worked at the organization as a team member. The StoryYellers was my first proper job out of college. It was an eye-brow-raising combination. I had graduated from business school and was moving into an industry very different from my educational background. What qualifications would you need to work for a storytelling organization? I was not sure. I’m still not sure. Except perhaps to believe truly, madly, deeply (like the Savage Garden song) that stories are worth telling.
The StoryYellers event always happens on a Wednesday. When I had once asked why, I was told it was midweek, the busiest day of the week and only people who truly love stories would come. What a test for the audience, I thought then. As time went by, I saw people come on a Wednesday over and over again. The 50th session was no different from the first. The magic of stories told live was just the same. When the lights dimmed down with just the spotlight on the stage, everything else faded away.
This edition had stories from Chirag Bangdel, Sijal Kunwar, Rochak Dahal, and Sanjog Koirala. Each brought a different slice of life to the stage. Bangdel began his story on a humorous note that every time he goes in front of the mic, he begins to speak in English. I could relate. His story was about his father – the void and space he left behind when he passed away.
Kunwar’s story showed a brutal but growing reality of our world. She had been ruthlessly bullied during school and today stood in front of a full-house audience wearing a colour that had constantly been used to bully her.
Dahal shared his story about following his heart. The frontman of the band Pahenlo Batti Muni, Dahal even sang a few lines of their upcoming song ‘Je Hola Hola’ that complimented his story. The gist of his story and the lyrics of the song went something like this – he might not know where he is headed but is being guided by his heart.
Koirala was a CA professional turned actor and was now working in digital finance. The career hoping of his life might seem strange to many, but it resonated with me on so many levels. Trying something new and the risk that comes with it is always daunting.
During my time at the organization, I had the chance to curate and listen to many stories, perhaps over 70 of them about different life events and chances people took in their lives. These stories made me humble. These stories reminded me that we are all just people.
Aarush, one of the regular volunteers in the team when I was working, was there too. I hadn’t seen him in years. He asked me if I would like to yell another story since it had been quite a while since the first one. ‘Tapai ta baccha thiyo tyo bela ma,’ he added slightly mocking me that I was just a child back then. That was probably when I consciously realized it had been seven years – more than 2,500 days. In all these times, I had made up new stories, tried to let go of some, and reframed some more. If we never step into the same river twice, as Heraclitus said, then I had become a very different river by now.
The idea behind the stories shared at The StoryYellers is one incident that changed your life. Each story is about a fork in the road. Sharad, one of my writer friends, recently wrote in an essay, “One fork in the path doesn’t do much, but nineteen forks later, you have deserted at least a couple hundred thousand ways you could have been.”
In the last six years since graduating from university, I have abandoned thousands of possibilities. I understand that even the possibility of being able to abandon choices is a privilege I must not take for granted. I sometimes fancy what I might have become if I had not gotten a head start in the storytelling industry. If I hadn’t worked in and around stories, would I still be doing the same thing I do today? I was a finance major in my undergraduate education, and I sometimes wondered about becoming an investment banker or working in investments. Would I have been happier? The answers are now mere speculations, realities I can no longer access. But by now, I know this much – what I will never want to or perhaps even be able to abandon is my love for stories.
Maybe I have become what I was meant to become. Maybe I am becoming that what I am choosing to be. There are still stories to tell myself.
Congratulations to The StoryYellers on bringing out 200 stories from Nepal. May the storytelling continue for as long as there are stories.
You can follow The StoryYellers on facebook, instagram, and youtube. And you can find me on instagram @thewordcastle.
The Wordcastle 